GC/MS/MS-based targeted metabolomics for pathophysiological analysis of animal models

Abstract

Metabolomics is an essential tool for not only understanding the pathophysiology of various diseases but also for searching for initial clues to unknown toxic effects of drugs. Mass spectrometry-based metabolomics has achieved highly sensitive and selective analysis of metabolites, and gas chromatography mass spectrometry remains a gold standard because of its robustness and usability. However, it is tedious to annotate metabolites with electron ionization (EI)-based mass spectra; thus, gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS)-based metabolome analysis has played an important role in metabolomics. In particular, the selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode achieves higher selectivity and an improved signal-to-noise ratio, which leads to easier metabolite identification. In this mini review, we concisely outline the pros and cons of GC/MS/MS-based metabolome analysis and provide its applications to pathophysiological analysis of disease and drug-induced toxicity in animal models based on our previous studies. Finally, future perspectives for newly developed high-throughput metabolome analysis are briefly described.